Integration of NEC Active Voice Division into AVST Strengthens Unified Communications Market Position for Both Companies

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. and IRVING, Texas, April 5, 2010 – Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) and NEC Corporation of America (NEC) today announced a long-term strategic technology relationship including the integration of Active Voice, a division of NEC, into AVST. In addition to seamlessly integrating AVST’s CallXpress® Unified Communications (UC) platform with NEC’s world class IP telephony and UC solutions, AVST will continue to manufacture, support and enhance specific Active Voice product offerings for NEC, its channel partners and the independent Active Voice channel.

This relationship increases the global footprint of both companies for UC and the addition of the Active Voice division significantly increases AVST’s addressable customer base with a combined 140,000 systems sold worldwide, to date. Additionally, the integration expands AVST’s position in the UC marketplace with a broader set of product offerings, access to additional distribution channels and expanded engineering resources for accelerated innovation. For NEC, the partnership provides integration of its advanced solutions with AVST’s CallXpress UC platform and expanded sales channel opportunities. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

The new relationship further validates the commitment of both companies to deliver world class UC solutions for small, medium and enterprise-class customers that are highly interoperable, scalable and tailored to meet the needs of individual businesses. AVST brings three decades of experience and leadership in the UC marketplace and leverages its core strength of delivering solutions that transform individual, group and enterprise productivity while enabling organizations to maximize the return on their strategic telecom and IT infrastructure investments. NEC, a leading provider and integrator of advanced communications solutions, continues to offer advanced unified communications for businesses and vertical organizations that meet business process improvement needs.

“We are honored and privileged to enter into this long term strategic technology relationship with NEC. Extending our relationship with one of the most prestigious global UC solution providers in the market while maintaining our strong independent and interoperable product offerings is a positive step for our customers and our channel,” said Hardy Myers, President & CEO of AVST. “We are also very excited to integrate the Active Voice team and its products into AVST, thereby enabling us to extend our global reach and accelerate our position in the UC market.”

“AVST has been a technology and distribution partner of NEC for many years,” said Ram Menghani, General Manager, Product Management for NEC Corporation of America. “The expanded technology relationship and the corresponding acquisition of Active Voice announced today, reflects our strong mutual commitment to our customers and expanding NEC’s global position in the UC market. We believe that this relationship will help accelerate the customer adoption of our mutual product offerings.”

About NEC Corporation of America
Headquartered in Irving, Texas, NEC Corporation of America is a leading provider of innovative IT, network and communications products and solutions for service carriers, Fortune 1000 and SMB businesses across multiple vertical industries, including Healthcare, Government, Education and Hospitality. NEC Corporation of America delivers one of the industry’s broadest portfolios of technology solutions and professional services, including unified communications, wireless, voice and data, managed services, server and storage infrastructure, optical network systems, microwave radio communications and biometric security. NEC Corporation of America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, a global technology leader with operations in 30 countries and more than $42 billion in revenues. For more information, please visit www.necam.com.

© 2010 NEC Corporation of America. NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned are the trademarks of their respective owners.

About AVST

Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a leading developer of Unified Communications solutions with over 15 million users relying on its products and services to maximize their productivity. With three decades of innovation excellence, AVST is solely focused on delivering communications solutions that increase individual, group and enterprise productivity. Its flagship Unified Communications platform, CallXpress®, offers best in class interoperability, scalability and resiliency while delivering advanced call processing, voicemail, unified messaging, personal assistant, fax, speech and notification capabilities. With CallXpress, an organization can uniquely protect and extend its existing IT and telephony infrastructure investments — now and into the future.

Headquartered in Orange County, Calif., AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, Wash. and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices throughout the United States. AVST's Unified Communications solutions are sold and supported internationally by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. For more information contact Denny Michael, Vice President of Marketing, at 949-699-2300 or access the company's website at www.avst.com.

Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a leading developer of communications solutions for businesses of all sizes. Through its world-class unified communications platform, CallXpress®, AVST offers the industry's most powerful suite of next generation communications solutions including call processing, voice messaging, unified messaging, fax, speech-enabled applications (including automated attendant and hands-free mobile worker access), and notification.

The CallXpress unified communications platform is designed to facilitate the enterprise migration from legacy TDM call processing and voice mail solutions to IP-enabled unified communications by delivering the interoperability, scalability, feature depth and flexibility, and administrative capabilities that enterprise IT and Telecom teams are demanding.

Headquartered in Orange County, California, AVST maintains facilities in Bellevue, Washington and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices across the United States. With over 40,000 systems installed worldwide, AVST's communications solutions are sold and supported by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners including Altura Communications Solutions, Black Box Network Services, Cincinnati Bell, NetVersant Solutions, Qwest Communications, Shared Technologies, Verizon Business, Westcon Group, and Ericsson AB.

AVST was established in September 2003 from the combined businesses of Sound Advantage (established in 1997) and the AVT division (established in 1982) of Captaris, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAPA). A privately-owned company, AVST's two major institutional investors are Ignition Partners, Seattle, WA (www.ignitionpartners.com) and Dolphin Equity Partners, New York, NY (www.dolphinequity.com). Captaris, Inc. (www.captaris.com) is also a minority shareholder in AVST.

AVST - Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc.
27042 Towne Centre Drive, Suite 200
Foothill Ranch, California 92610-2810
Phone: (949) 699-2300
Fax: (949) 699-2301
Toll-Free: (866) 368-0400
Press Contact: Denny Michael, VP of Marketing, AVST

This release was published on openPR.